Israeli start-up SolarEdge has developed electronics to squeeze enough inefficiencies out of solar panels' wiring to make an array up to 25 percent more productive.
The company plans to disclose the details of its technology on Wednesday at the Intersolar 2009 conference in Munich, as well as to announce that German solar installer Gehrlicher will offer SolarEdge's products.
SolarEdge is seeking to address a number of performance problems common to solar power, such as lost electricity production from partial shading or converting direct current to household alternating current in an inverter. The company has raised about $35 million since it was founded in 2006.
SolarEdge's products include a junction box for solar panels, inverter, and Web-based monitoring software.
(Credit: SolarEdge)Altogether, electricity loss problems associated with wiring and placement of panels can cut a solar array's output by 20 percent to 30 percent, according to SolarEdge founder and CEO Guy Sella.
The company developed a junction box to be fitted on solar panels with an integrated circuit that fixes the voltage coming off panels. Having a steady voltage eliminates problems associated with degradations that happen when different panels' performance varies, Sella said.
The junction box is designed to work with SolarEdge's inverter to optimize the conversion of direct current to alternating current. The inverter also gathers data on temperature and output of each panel.
As part of its offering, SolarEdge has a Web-based program for monitoring performance of panels. "We have software that gives you access to all the data so you can analyze your installation and compare panels to their neighbors. It can give you an understanding of any degradation," Sella said.
The company has signed on a few solar companies to test its system, which can be used for both large-scale and home solar panel systems. It is seeking deals with manufacturers so the junction boxes can be fitted onto panels during production rather than afterward, Sella said.
The company's first product is optimized for 3-kilowatt installations, a size suitable for a single home. In the first half of next year it plans to have a version suitable for large solar parks, where a slight improvement in efficiency can have a big financial impact, Sella said. The company expects to sell 25 megawatts' worth of equipment by the end of this year, and Sella expects sales to grow rapidly next year.
There are a few companies, including Enphase Energy and SolarBridge Technologies, which are tackling the lost electricity from panels using micro-inverters. Instead of having one inverter to serve several panels, microinverters are designed to increase efficiency and monitor performance by attaching an inverter to each panel. Sella said SolarEdge's system addresses the same issue but at a lower cost.
Inverter maker Xantrex on Monday announced an overhaul to its inverters that let people combine a renewable energy source with some back-up power.
Going off grid with solar--and batteries.
(Credit: Xantrex )Inverters convert direct current generated by solar panels or a wind turbine to household alternating current. When the power goes out, the Xantrex inverter draws on batteries to meet the household's load.
The Trace Series Inverter/Charger replaces its existing DR line that the company has sold since the 1990s which is most used in countries that don't have reliable power supply.
The updated Trace Series is more user friendly to operate and is more efficient in converting electricity to battery power and back, said Lloyd Gomm, director of marketing and product management for Xantrex.
The Xantrex Trace Series Inverter/Charger is designed to charge batteries from solar panels or wind turbine when there is a power failure.
(Credit: Xantrex )Many people assume that purchasing solar panels for a home includes a stack of batteries to run when the power goes out. That's typically not the case for customers in the U.S. unless they are willing to pay extra for back-up power.
When a house's panels are generating more electricity than the house is consumer, a "grid-tied" inverter will feed power back to the grid and make the meter runs backwards, subtracting from a customer's monthly bill.
Xantrex participates in both the grid-tied and off-grid market but Gomm said that the off-grid market is still appealing even though it isn't growing as fast.
"It's a market that that a lot of people don't focus on it but from a business point of view, you get an opportunity to earn some good money," he said. "Those markets don't require government incentives because the solution to the problem you are addressing is 'you don't have power.'"
Inverter maker Xantrex on Thursday introduced a device for gathering performance data on rooftop solar electric panels.
The Xantrex Gateway is designed to monitor the amount of electricity that solar panels generate and transmits that information to a person's PC through a home Wi-Fi connection.
Monitoring equipment is commonly used for large-scale installations at corporations or power plants. This gateway is designed specifically for people's homes or small-scale solar power installations.
Is your solar panel working at full steam? Xantrex Gateway gathers data and sends it to a widget via Wi-Fi.
(Credit: Xantrex)Gathering performance information is very important for solar panel homeowners.
State rebates can be tied to performance, and the payback on solar panels relies on them operating at full capacity.
Xantrex built a Yahoo widget that can log system performance on a PC directly from the Gateway and display information graphically.
The device also can be configured from a Web page to make automated e-mail reports or notify owners of problems.
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